Lake Tahoe, CA – A pair of avalanches in the past week have left two dead, including an in-bounds snowboarder at Donner Ski Ranch and a ski patroller at Alpine Meadows.

Steven Anderson, 49, of Hirschdale, Calif., was riding for his first day of the season on Monday at Donner Ski Ranch near Donner Summit, according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, when the avalanche struck within the boundary line just above the ski resort’s main lodge.  After he was reported missing by friends, searchers found Anderson an estimated five hours after the avalanche, buried in a debris field reportedly up to seven feet deep.

An ongoing winter storm left up to five feet of new snow this week in parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Two days before the incident that killed Anderson, Donner Ski Ranch was closed for high winds and heavy snowfall.

Also on Monday, a veteran ski patroller performing avalanche control work in the resort’s Sherwood Bowl at around 10:45 a.m. Monday when he was buried by a slide from above triggered by an explosive charge that caused the avalanche to break higher on the hill than anticipated.

Alpine Meadows patroller Bill Foster, 53, had been standing in a location thought to be safe but was swept away from his position. The 25-year ski patroller was located within one minute and extricated within eight minutes, before being transported by helicopter to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., where he was pronounced dead.

“He was one of our best and most experienced patrol members and will truly be missed by the Alpine Meadows family,” the resort said in a prepared statement. “Our deepest sympathy, thoughts and prayers are with Bill’s family and friends.”

The Monday incident that killed Foster occurred only a day after snowboarders at neighboring Squaw Valley triggered an in-bounds avalanche on the resort’s steep KT-22 terrain. Two skiers, an unidentified 39-year-old woman and 16-year-old boy, sustained non-life threatening injuries in the slide which did not bury them, according to Squaw Valley public relations manager Amelia Richmond.